Partial stake-sale in Shipping Corporation likely

The shipping ministry, which is looking at divesting stake in its public sector enterprises, on Monday indicated that a partial stake-sale in Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) was likely. This could be clubbed with issue of fresh equity.

The ministry is yet to chalk out a timeline for the same.

Shipping secretary K Mohandas said the ministry is evaluating a number of proposals and nothing has been finalised yet. “One of the proposals being considered is part disinvestment and part follow-on public offer,” he said on the sidelines of a conference in New Delhi.

Mohandas did not mention any timeline for the divestment.

SCI, meanwhile, has not yet been intimated about any such move.

“The disinvestment is purely government’s call. We have not yet been informed about any Cabinet decision related to the matter,” SCI chairman S Hajara said.

In the ports and shipping sector, the government is considering divestment in three public sector units - SCI, Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), and Cochin Shipyard Ltd.

Meanwhile, SCI, having a capacity of 5.1 million dead weight tonnage (DWT), plans to diversify into areas such as ship building, terminal management and emerge as a full-fledged maritime logistics services provider. Hajara did not share details on the diversification plans.

He said the company is looking at inking a pact on acquisition of ships soon. “We have on order over 30 vessels and we will order another 30 by 2012, at an investment of about Rs 8,000 crore”.

“We will float global tenders for the same soon. We may source the ships from South Korea and China,” said Hajara.

The company plans to jack up its capacity to 12 million DWT in two years.

On the pact with ONGC for offshore operations, Hajara said discussions are on but no decision has been taken yet.